Homeland Security

DATE=1/16/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=BRITAIN / TERRORISM (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-298463

BYLINE=MICHAEL DRUDGE

DATELINE=LONDON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Britain has announced another arrest related to an anti-terrorist sweep in which a policeman was murdered earlier this week. British media say the accused murderer is a suspected ringleader of a terrorist plot that authorities continue to investigate. V-O-A Correspondent Michael Drudge reports from London.

TEXT: There has been a fourth arrest in the northern city of Manchester, as British police expand their search for suspects in what they say is an international terrorist plot.

The latest suspect, a 32-year-old Algerian, has been transferred to London for questioning by Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch.

The arrest comes as Britain mourns the death of Detective Stephen Oake, who was fatally stabbed in the chest on Tuesday, after police arrested three other suspects of North African origin in Manchester.

British newspapers say the suspected killer is an Algerian man, regarded as a senior figure in a terrorist cell that was discovered earlier this month in London.

Four men arrested in a London raid have been charged with terrorism and chemical weapons offenses, after traces of a highly poisonous toxin called ricin was found in an apartment they occupied.

The Times newspaper says the suspected killer of Detective Oake is a trained chemist, who concocted the poison from the seeds of the castor bean plant.

There has been uproar in the British media over the fact that several of the suspects had sought political asylum in Britain.

Cabinet Minister John Reid defended the asylum system at a news conference Thursday. He said determined terrorists will get into Britain, no matter what obstacles are put up.

/// REID ACT ///

Don't overemphasize the desire of would-be terrorists to use this (asylum) system exclusively. With 90-million visitors, passenger visitors, to the country every year, these are very devious people, and they will use any means to get in.

/// END ACT ///

Meanwhile, the citizens of Manchester are leaving flowers outside the apartment where Mr. Oake was murdered, as the community grieves for the man they call the first victim on British soil of the international war on terrorism. (Signed).

NEB/MWD/KL/TW